Does it work like Nokia's old keyboard where you could press a key once and it would approximate the word you're typing from the letters contained within each key?
No. You press for the letter that is in the middle of the key and for the other letters you have to swipe. If the letter "p" is in the top right corner of the middle key you have to swipe to the top right corner. It takes some getting used to, but one-handed typing is much faster with this keyboard.